Kabbalah Library

206. It is a commandment to blow the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah [Hebrew New Year’s Eve], which is the day of judgment for the world. It is written, “Blow the horn at the time of the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day on the day of our festival,” the day in which the moon, Malchut, is covered, and the world is in judgment because the accuser covers and locks the door to the king, ZA, and the moon is a place where the judgment is present, to accuse the world.

207. How was the slanderer given permission to cover the light of Malchut and accuse? Certainly, the Creator placed it in the hands of the slanderer to accuse the whole world. He has given him a specific day in which he may complain before Him on all the judgments in the world. The Creator has made him and placed him in front of Him, so that the fear of the Creator would rise and be present over everyone, as it is written, “And God made it that all will fear Him.” He made the slanderer and established him before Him to be a sharp sword over the whole world, and all this is in order for everyone to fear the Creator. It is an overseer who complains about the iniquities of people and demands judgment, and captures people and kills them and strikes them. It is all as it comes out from the courthouse.

208. Like the appointee over the courthouse of below, who was given permission to mention before the courthouse, that so and so did this, and so and so did that, and to demand judgment on them. The appointee over the courthouse was given permission to lock the courthouse door until everything that he accuses is sentenced, and the courthouse has no permission to reject him because if the verse, “For I the Lord love justice,” that He wants the world to exist with judgment, and to know that there is a judgment and there is a judge. All this applies to the courthouse of below.

209. Similarly the Creator made before Him that slanderer who demands judgment before the King over all the people in the world. On that day, he is given permission to cover the door of the King, ZA, and the moon, Malchut, is covered inside until there is judgment over all the people in the world. And although everything is revealed before the Creator, He still wants only through judgment.

210. Everything is in the same manner above and below. On that day, the Creator establishes the throne of judgment and the overseer comes and demands judgment over the actions of all the people in the world, each according to his ways and according to what he had done. Witnesses come and testify to all the actions of the people in the world, and those witnesses are called “the eyes of the Creator,” which roam throughout the world. How many are those eyes of the Creator? They have no number; they walk and roam the world over and see all the actions of the people in the world.

211. Woe to those who do not observe and do not examine their actions, since those witnesses of the King stand by them and watch and see everything they do and say. They rise up and testify before the King, and the overseer stands before the King and demands judgment: “So and so broke a law, so and so did so and so, and here are the witnesses.” As long as the Creator does not ask them, they have no permission to testify, but when He asks them, they give their testimony.

212. It is all written before the King in writing. There is a certain hall in the King’s house, full of white fire that is rolling in a circle with blazing sparks, and never stops. Inside that hall there is another hall, full of black fire that never stops. Two books always stand before the King. At the time of judgment, all the witnesses testify before the King. The authors take from the circle of white fire and write on it the sentence with the black fire.

213. At that time, the King delays the sentence; perhaps in the meantime, they will repent. If they have repented, the writings are torn. If they have not, the King sits, and all the advocates stand before Him. The clarion stands and declares, “So and so did so and so, who will speak in his favor?” If there is someone to speak in his favor, good. If not, he is given to the overseer to punish him.

214. The Creator knows everything, so why does He need all this? It is to show that He is doing everything in a truthful way, and He is content with those who are saved from His judgment. How do we know this? It was given to the sages. Even those who do not know, one who wants to look may look at what is revealed below, in this world, and will know what is above, in concealment, since everything is in the same way. All that the Creator has done in the ways of the earth is as it is above.

215. Rosh Hashanah day is the day of judgment. The King sits on the throne of judgment, the overseer comes, covers the door of the King and demands judgment. Although the Creator loves judgment, as it is written, “For I the Lord love justice,” the love for His children defeats the love of justice. When the overseer arises to speak his words about them, the Creator commands to blow the Shofar in order to awaken the love from below upward.

216. A sound rises, consisting of fire, wind, and water, corresponding to HGT, and one sound is made of them. Another sound awakens against it from above, the middle line. When that sound awakens from above and from below, all the arguments that the slanderer argues become confused because the GAR of the left, the origin of judgments, diminishes, and the mercies that emerge from the unification of the left and the right become revealed.

217. On the day of Rosh Hashanah, Isaac goes out alone; the left line controls without the right, Abraham, and without the unification of the middle line, which are Abraham and Jacob. He calls Esau, the Sitra Achra, to let him taste the stews of the whole world according to their ways, to demand judgment over the actions of all the people of the world. At that time, it is written, “And his eyes were so dim that he could not see,” since the one who darkens the faces of people emerges from him, meaning the slanderer is extended from a left without the right, and is separated from the right and middle lines. He lies on the bed of judgment and calls Esau, meaning the Sitra Achra and the slanderer, and says, “Bring me game and make savory food for me,” from the actions of the bad people, and bring it to me.

218. Rebecca, Malchut, said to Jacob her son, her soul’s beloved, her beloved son who was given to her since the day when the world was created, commanding him to awaken with those delicacies of his. Jacob awakens below, dresses in prayers and requests, and the voice is the voice of Jacob in the Shofar that he raises.

The upper Jacob, the middle line, awakens to Isaac and draws near him, uniting him with Abraham, right, as it is written, “So he brought it near him, and he ate,” meaning they were incorporated in one another and the Mochin illuminated, which is the meaning of eating. Since the middle line was incorporated with him, “And he brought him wine,” which is the kept wine, illumination of Hochma that shines from below upward, corrected by the middle line. Wine is the joy of the heart, the next world, illumination of Hochma that is extended from Bina, called the next world. At that time, it is written, “And smelled the smell of his garments, meaning prayers and requests that rise up. “And blessed him,” meaning that the anger had subsided and the heart rejoiced. It is all mercy.

219. Since he was incorporated in Jacob, all the forces and harsh judgments and anger that were prepared had dispersed and were not found there, and Israel came out from the judgment with joy and blessings, as it is written, “When Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father” in that day, with joy and high blessings. “Esau his brother came in from his hunting,” loaded with loads from the deeds of the world, to slander them. “He also had made savory food,” sharpening his tongue to make arguments, establishing a testimony, “and brought it to his father, and said to his father, ‘Let my father arise,’” and awaken in his judgments, “and eat of his son’s game,” several bad deeds that were around the world, which I have found.

220. “Then Isaac was extremely horrified,” for he could not separate from Jacob’s rule, that he is in joy. “He said, ‘What? Where is the one who hunted game,’” with several prayers and litanies. “And I ate it all before you came and blessed him, and he shall be blessed, as well.” “When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry,” since he saw that his game was nothing. Finally, he told him, “Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,” who are the mighty ones and the masses of the rest of the nations. But that was the most difficult for him, “And Esau hated Jacob,” to always follow him and slander him.

221. Jacob was walking in those days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom HaKippurim, and was running in order to be saved from him. He repented and fasted until Yom HaKippurim came. Then Israel know that Esau came with four-hundred men with him, all of them slanderers who are ready to slander them. Promptly, “And Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed,” he prayed and begged extensively. “And Jacob said, ‘God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac,’” until he takes advice and says, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me … and [he] took what came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels with their colts. Through the gift, the prosecutor had become and an advocate.

222. Camels are the primordial serpent, which was as a sort of camel. When the angel SAM seduced Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge, he was riding a serpent that was like a camel. One who saw a camel in one’s dream was sentenced to death from above, and he was saved from it. The camel and the serpent that brought death on the world are one matter.

223. Then Esau returns to being Jacob’s protector. But Jacob wanted neither his honey nor his sting. He said, “Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant,” and then, it is written, “So Esau returned that day,” during the final prayer, for then he was separated from the holy nation, and the Creator forgives their iniquities and atones for them. Since the slanderer walked during the afternoon prayer and separated from them, the Creator wants to rejoice with His children, as it is written, “And Jacob journeyed to Sukkot and built himself a house, and made huts for his cattle. This is why the name of the place is called Sukkot [huts, like the festival of Sukkot]. Since Israel were sitting during Sukkot, they were saved from the slanderer and the Creator was happy with His children. Happy is their share in this world and in the next world.